


Apart

by DrummerGirl231



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Family Angst, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23584153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrummerGirl231/pseuds/DrummerGirl231
Summary: When Donald starts dating the lovely Daisy, Della is their biggest supporter... but it doesn't take long before Donald begins struggling to find balance in this new season of his life.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 104





	Apart

**Author's Note:**

> This was written and posted before Daisy's first appearance in the show (and also before Frank Angones said Della is NOT the one Donald has to worry about most when it comes to his family accepting the situation).

“DONALD DONALD DONALD!!!”

“What what what?”

“Look what I found!” Della held up an old M64 game cartridge. “Our old copy of Super Bash Sibs! We gotta play it tonight!” She tipped it upside down and looked at the dust that had accumulated inside. “…or at least see if it still works.”

“I can’t tonight,” he said apologetically as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Daisy and I are going to the movies.”

Della gasped. “OooooooOOOOOOOoooo– ”

“Stop that,” he rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide his smile. “You’re as bad as the kids.”

“Oh, pthbpt,” she spat before giggling. “Okay, I guess I’ll leave you to get ready.” She took a step toward the stairs but stopped herself when her eyes caught sight of his hair situation. She tucked the game cartridge in her pocket and reached up to his head. “Just… here, gimme your hair.”

“What are you doing?” 

“I’m fixing it!”

“Stop it!”

“Hold still!”

“I never messed with your hair before a date!”

“Psh, like you’d know what you were doing!”

Donald let out a frustrated “WAAAAK!” and battled his sister’s hands away. 

After a few seconds of them slapping each other’s hands in what used to be called a “girly fight,” in decades past, they broke apart, Della’s giggles softening her brother’s annoyance. Or maybe it was just that it was getting more and more difficult for him to stay angry lately. Whatever the reason for his temper de-escalating, Della left him to get ready for real and headed back into the mansion to play Super Bash Sibs with the kids instead.

 _Tonight? Date. Next year? Wedding. Year after? My very own niece or nephew,_ Della thought. Sure, she knew she was getting ahead of herself – or more accurately, ahead of Donald and Daisy. But what else were sisters for? She’d waited her whole life for her brother to get a girlfriend. 

_“Ye’re more excited about Donald having a girlfriend than Donald!”_ Uncle Scrooge had joked after she ran to tell him the good news before Donald could.

It probably wasn’t true, and she knew that. But the thought of her brother finally finding his special someone… and when she was home to see it, too… she was so grateful to whatever higher power might be worth thanking. While she’d been stuck on the Moon, she had occasionally wondered if Donald would fall in love and get married without her there to see it. She wasn’t sure what she’d hoped for more… that he’d stay single until she got home so she wouldn't miss his love story unfold, or that she’d come home to find he’d been married for years so the boys had a maternal figure in their lives.

 _At least they’ve had Mrs. B. almost all their lives,_ she thought. So getting to see Donald finally get a girlfriend now was truly the best case scenario she could’ve hoped for where her brother’s love life was concerned.

\-------------------------------------

“Hey, Donald!” Della greeted him on the deck of his houseboat a few days later. “This Saturday, if Scrooge doesn’t whisk us off on an adventure, the kids wanna catch me up on a lot of the movies I’ve missed. We’re thinking of starting the marathon at one, after their chores and lunch and everything. You in?”

“Sorry. Two of Daisy’s friends are moving out of their apartment and into a house on Saturday. I already said I could come and help. And then Daisy and I were going to hang out for a little while afterwards.”

“Oh…” She was surprised to be turned down twice in a row… even more surprised he was seeing Daisy again already. But she could remember what it was like to be in a new relationship. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to spend so much time with her. “Well… okay! Have fun!”

\--------------------------------------

Over the next few weeks it was more of the same. Della would try to make plans to hang out with Donald, but almost every time, he already had plans with his girlfriend. When they did get to hang out, he’d still be texting her. It wasn’t quite what Della had expected. Back when she was dating… did she really spend that much time with her boyfriend? She tried to remember if Donald kept trying to make plans with her that she turned down, and she couldn’t recall any.

 _I guess it’s because we’d still hang out a lot back then,_ she figured. _We’d go on adventures all the time, and now he doesn’t adventure as much… and I always used to hang out with him after I got home from a date…_

She knew he wasn’t much for staying up late anymore, but maybe he could stay up just a little one night?

“I’m actually going to be out kind of late tonight,” he said when she asked. “There’s this meteor shower Daisy wanted to watch with me.”

“Oh… I… didn’t hear about that.”

“Yup. But it doesn’t start until almost ten. I think it’s supposed to be in the west if you wanna watch it.”

“Nah… I’ve stared up at the stars enough.” She tried to say it lightheartedly, but she worried she didn’t do a good job hiding how she really felt. “Um… d’you think the boys might wanna watch it? Or is that too late for them?”

“They’ve got a math test in the morning with Mrs. B.” he said. “Probably best to let ‘em sleep. They’ll get to see other meteor showers.”

“Yeah, I… forgot about the math test. So um… I’m guessing you’re gonna want to go right to bed when you get home?”

“That’s the plan… did you need to talk to me about something? Is it about the boys?”

 _“Why’s it have to be about the boys?”_ is what she wanted to ask, but didn’t. _“I just wanna hang out with you like before,”_ is what she wanted to say, but couldn’t. All she could do is shake her head.

“No, they’re fine. Have fun.”

She left the room, hoping she sounded cheerful enough. She couldn’t keep it up much longer. The edges of her eyes were starting to sting, and by the time she reached the end of the hallway, everything had gotten blurry, and she wiped her eyes and headed to her room as quickly as she could.

After pulling herself together, she went about her day as usual. She made sure the boys studied for their math test and helped them as much as she could, watched some funny videos online with them, and tucked them into bed right at nine o’clock. Being a mom was her new favorite thing… she always knew it would be. 

But she also thought when she came home things would be like they’d always been between her and her brother, as though she’d never left. She never thought Donald dating would affect their sibling bond. Her dating didn’t, back in the day. 

_So Daisy can’t be the only factor…_ she thought as she pulled her small ice cream cartoon labelled “Mom/Della” in black marker out of the freezer. She grabbed a spoon from the silverware drawer and sat at the small table in the kitchen. 

Things were just… different now. Even her favorite brand of mint chocolate chip ice cream wasn’t green anymore, what with the new push to eliminate artificial colors. And white mint ice cream was a change she could live with, but…

_I really thought Donald and I were gonna be best friends, like always…_

It’s true the majority of her time on the Moon she was thinking about being a mom, but she missed being a niece and sister, too. She missed her whole family. There were times she’d lie awake in the _Spear of Selene’s_ wreckage, too tired to keep working on it, and before falling asleep she’d think of everything she missed about her family, including camping with her uncle and brother under the stars and falling asleep listening to her brother’s funny snoring, or playing video games with him, or watching movies with him. She missed seeing him lose his temper and beat up any enemy who threatened her or their uncle. She missed his scratchy voice and dry sense of humor. 

He’d been the only constant in her life as far back as she could remember, and further. Her imprisonment on the Moon was the first time they’d been away from each other more than two weeks. And for almost eleven years she thought about getting back to normal… and that included him.

 _…Only… while I spent all my time wanting to get back to him and everyone else… he spent his time trying to learn how to do life without me… and he_ has _learned to do life without me…_

Her family thought she’d died. They didn’t even get the transmissions she’d sent them. They’d all given up hope of ever seeing her again. What must that have been like for Donald? To think his twin was gone forever and the best he could do was to try and move on?

_My normal has always been being close with him… and I never had to give that up, even when I was on the Moon, because I knew I’d see him again… but his normal now is for me to be gone…_

Her vision grew blurry, and when she blinked, a tear fell into her open ice cream carton.

_Well… can’t leave that for another day… that’d be gross._

So she scooped up the ice cream her tear had landed on and ate it, as well as a few more spoonfuls before her uncle Scrooge found her.

“What’s all this?” 

She jumped when she heard him, and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, but it was too late.

“Tears and ice cream?” he said with a high voice, like a father talking to his baby girl. He sat opposite her at the table. “Who’ve we got to sick your brother on, lass?”

Della inhaled shakily as her eyes welled up again, and she broke down sobbing with her forehead against her arms on the table. 

“What on Earth is the matter?”

Even without looking she could tell he said this getting up from his seat, and soon the cushion she was sitting on sank a little to her right as he sat beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. 

She sniffled a few times and tried to regain her composure – at least enough to speak – and said, “Don – Donald is always going on dates now – and I’m here, and like –” she wasn’t quite ready to articulate herself yet, though, and she sobbed a bit more. 

“Aw, there there, lass…” Scrooge patted her hand. “Ye’ll find someone, too.”

“I don’t wanna find someone!” she tried to explain.

“Oh.” Scrooge sat for a moment, not saying anything while she wiped her eyes with her other hand. “There there, lass, ye won’t find anyone,” he patted her hand again.

“I… I keep trying to hang out with Donald, but… he only wants to hang out with Daisy because he’s used to me being dead…”

“What? That’s preposterous!” Scrooge said. “First of all, neither of us ever got used to you being gone. So there’ll be none o’ that nonsense.” He reached up to wipe away her tear. “Second, I think the reason Donald wants to spend so much time with Daisy has nothing to do with you and everything to do with Daisy.”

He was probably right, but it didn’t fix anything. Della groaned and leaned back in the seat, holding her carton right under her bill and shoveling in another spoonful. 

“A few weeks ago you were all of a flutter, thinkin’ about Donald and Daisy sitting in a tree and however the rest of that silly rhyme goes. Why I half-expected you to have their children’s names picked out by now.”

Della shrugged. “I mean… that’d only be fair. He named mine,” she said with her mouth full.

“Then what’s changed?”

Della swallowed her ice cream. “It’s just… I didn’t think they’d be hanging out this much so soon… I keep asking Donald if he wants to hang out, but he always has plans with Daisy, and…” she felt her throat tightening, but she had to get it out, however high-pitched it might wind up being. “…I miss my brotherrrr!” she cried. “And he doesn’t miss me because I’m not important to him anymooorrre!”

Was it an irrational train of thought? Of course it was. Did she know it? Absolutely. But she needed to get it out of her system.

“‘Not important to him anymore?’” Scrooge repeated. “Now I told you, I’ll hear no such balderdash. The lad’s never had to balance romance and family before, and he won’t know he’s rubbish at it right now if ye don’t tell him! He’s not a mind-reader!” 

“I don’t wanna mess anything up though!” she said. “Daisy seems really nice, and Donald’s the best, and they’re so cute together and would have the cutest babies… well, tied for cutest with mine… and meddling to push them together is in my job description as a sister, but meddling that pushes them apart?”

“Ye won’t push them apart, lass…” Scrooge said. “Couples don’t need to spend every waking minute together. You know that. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say. That brother of yours needs to remember his priorities, because those are all too easy to forget when a man’s head-over-heels.”

Della sniffled and ate a little more ice cream. “Did you feel sorta left in the dust when Mum started dating Dad?”

Scrooge thought back a moment. “I was mainly glad to be rid of her, to be honest.”

Della’s shoulders shook with a laugh she had to stifle with food in her mouth. 

“Aw, but I remember back when you were dating… I’d come check on Donald in the TV room and he’d be ‘vegging’ in front of the telly, bored out of his mind, waiting up for you… wanting to make sure you were back by curfew, worrying about your safety… it was nice. It meant I didnae hafte wait up.”

Della smiled a little. “Did he eat ice cream?”

“Well… no… but he went through bags of cheesy crisps so quick I told him he’d have to start paying for his own cheese-flavored corn snacks… ye always were the one with more of a sweet tooth. My point is that it’s not so strange ye miss your brother. He missed you, too.”

“…But I always hung out with him and we talked after my dates. Now when he comes home he goes to bed like… a fuddy-duddy.”

“Ye’re not in your twenties anymore,” Scrooge pointed out.

“What a mean thing to say. I would _never_ tell you you’re not in your twenties.”

“Agh jings, what’s so great about a person’s twenties anyway? It’s one of the silliest times of life. Your best years are ahead of ye lass, you remember that… but if you deal with all your problems by stuffing your gob with ice cream instead of talking to your br–”

“ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT?!”

“What? NO! Curse me kilts, how’d ye get _that_ from–” 

But Della’s laughter cut him off. Like ice cream, watching a man panic over being accused of calling a woman fat when he didn’t is one of life’s simple pleasures. It was just too good of an opportunity to miss. 

Scrooge sighed with a smile, relieved to see her laughing and joking even if her eyes were still tear-stained. He reached up to rustle her hair like he used to do when she was a duckling before getting up from his seat beside her.

“Far be it from me to get between a woman with man trouble and her ice cream… I only came in here for a glass of water, myself.” He filled a glass at the sink and took a sip. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Night, Uncle Scrooge,” Della said as he reached the door. 

“Goodnight, lass… and talk to your brother.” 

Then he left.

The loneliest quiet fell over the kitchen… it always did the second she was alone after spending time with her family. She hated it. It was too familiar. She started humming to herself to get some relief from the silence as she carried on eating her ice cream, but the loneliness only grew. It didn’t take long for her to realize the song she automatically began to hum was the one she used to use to comfort herself on the Moon… the song she wrote for her boys… the song she now knew her brother carried on singing to them for her in her absence.

She spent so many years looking up at the stars, humming that song, missing her babies… her uncle… and her brother.

And now as she hummed it, her brother was out looking up at the stars, not missing her at all.

**Author's Note:**

> (As stated in the preceding notes, I wrote and posted this before Frank Angones said on Tumblr Della is not the one Donald has to worry about most. I don't feel like re-writing this entire section so the following WAS my reasoning before Frank said what he said.)
> 
> I would love nothing more than for Della and Daisy to get along swimmingly, but at the same time, you know what makes better television? Complicated and conflicting feelings... in this case, Della shipping Donsy so hard but also feeling sad that Donald's not spending any time with her but also not wanting to say anything because it's weird enough they're raising her kids as a team; why add (what Della worries is) unreasonable clinginess to her brother to the mix? Surely that'd be too weird and scare Daisy off (or so Della fears).
> 
> On October 26th, 2019, I asked Frank Angones on Tumblr if Donald's ever had to balance his family relationships with a romantic relationship before, and Frank answered, "Not yet. And his kids’ reactions aren’t the people he has to worry about the most." I can't imagine this being about anyone but Della... I mean, maaaybe Scrooge, but Della's been away for so long, and she and Donald were always so close, and they're finally reunited and now it sounds like Donald's going to struggle balancing his romantic and platonic relationships, and like... that could be tough for Della after so many years apart from her brother. They've got to rebuild their sibling relationship, but almost as soon as they're together again he gets a girlfriend for the first time.
> 
> I could be wrong. Maybe it's not Della. Or maybe it is, but the struggle manifests in a totally different way (maybe Della won't trust Daisy and will be super overprotective of her brother or something, I dunno). But I can also imagine this sort of scenario, where Della's happy for her brother, but also misses him all over again and blames herself entirely for Donald not spending time with her because she feels being gone for so long led to him being used to doing life without her.


End file.
